The Internet of Things (IoT) edge base and local heterogeneous network environments are rapidly expanding. With this expansion comes an increased risk of network infrastructure security breaches. Much of the nefarious activity that threatens individual Internet users, enterprise operations and transaction viability has arisen in part due to the lack of accountability and authentication foresight during the conception and deployment of the original Internet core technological standards and the Internet's basic structure. However, even with a grave potential for damage, robust solutions to a complex system remain reactionary and often lengthy in discovery. The diverse nature of the vulnerability surface that enables such malicious activity is compounded by the connections (endpoints referred to as “machines”), as well as the variety of software applications that are allowed access to network and or cloud computing resources. With the advent of the IoT enabling many more billions of connections, plus even remote standalone local network “clouds,” the potential vulnerability compounds many times over.
Distributed digital ledger technologies (such as an encrypted blockchain) have been proven as robust solutions for authentication and accountability, as they provide a fully auditable trail of transactions between peers and community maintained. A problem is that to date, distributed ledger technologies remain application specific, with the intended use of the technology (e.g., monetary transaction, data distribution, document store, etc.) known as part of the inclusion process into a specific chain or side chain.
This document describes methods and systems that address at least some of the issues described above.